How to Grind Meat without a Grinder in Minutes

How to Grind Meat without a Grinder in just a few minutes. Sounds like a topic that will probably elicit a lot of questions from our readers. Like:

Q: Really? Minutes?A: You betcha.

Q: Noooo…You must be kidding?A: Not really!

Q: Wait, why would you want do that in the first place?A: Let us count the reasons.

First of all, grinding meat without any type of meat grinding device is definitely doable, and I promise to show you exactly how. But more importantly, there are many reasons to hand-grind meat yourself. In fact, I’ve stopped buying many pre-ground meats from the store, opting instead to do it at home.

Here are a few reasons why:

Reason #1: TASTE

Hand-chopped ground meats taste so much better than machine-ground meats. While prepared, packaged ground meats are readily available and we have all already gotten used to their texture, some dishes––especially in Asian cooking––are just better using meat that has been finely hand-chopped the old-fashioned way. If you ask anyone from my parents’ generation, they will tell you that they hand-chop ground meat when making fillings for dumplings, wontons or baozi. Ultimately, the texture will be meaty and flavorful instead of paste-like and indistinguishable.

Reason #2: HEALTH

Store-bought ground meats are often ground with scraps and then packaged neatly, so that we ultimately don’t know what’s gone into them. You also have little control over the cleanliness of the process or the fat content. Ground chicken, for instance, is often made from chicken breast, making it very lean. Likewise, ground pork found in the supermarket is also quite lean. At the supermarket, I can get different lean meat to fat ratios in ground beef, but not for pork, chicken, lamb, or turkey.

Reason #3: PRACTICALITY

If you cook a lot like we do, how often do you find yourself wishing that you had some ground meat for the dish you want to make at that very moment? My answer is…very often. Being able to take any piece of pork shoulder or a pack of chicken thighs to transform into ground meat is super convenient, and saves you a trip to the grocery store. Not only that, you get to control the coarseness and texture of the ground meat by chopping it more or less finely. This can give you greater control over the final results in your dishes.

Trust me, you will be as thrilled as we are with this newfound skill. In fact, Sarah is going to be sharing a great homemade breakfast sausage recipe in a couple days that uses this technique––and we’re very excited about it! Will have to keep it a secret for a couple more days. ;)

OK, here’s how to grind meat without a grinder––in just minutes. I used a piece of pork shoulder in this example, but this method can be used with boneless beef, chicken, lamb, turkey, etc.

How to Grind Meat without a Grinder

Step 1: With a sharp knife, slice your piece of meat on 45-degree angle, only cutting 75% of the way through––do not cut all the way to the bottom. Make your slices about ¼-inch thick.

Step 2: Flip the piece of meat over and repeat Step 1, slicing at a 45 degree angle in the opposite direction.

Step 3: Flip the meat back over, and slice at a 90 degree angle this time, again 75% of the way through, with a ¼-inch between each slice.

Step 4: Flip the meat over and repeat Step 3.

Step 5: Now gather the meat into a pile, and using the part of the knife or cleaver closest to the handle, rapidly chop the meat from left to right a couple times.

And that’s it, you’re done! If you want a finer texture, repeat Step 5 until it’s done the way you like it. You may need 3 minutes instead of 2. But who’s counting?

Pickled Long Beans with Pork is a favorite stir-fried dish with perfect level of tongue burning chili flavor, crisped bits of ground pork, and vinegary pickled long beans whose flavor is transformed by the effect of the wok’s searing heat.

This post on how to grind meat without a grinder will eliminate the hassle of taking out your meat grinder and washing it just for a simple recipe like the ones above!

Learn how to grind meat without a grinder, using a couple tools you already have in your kitchen, in just a couple minutes. The advantage of grinding your own meat at home? You know what goes in it, can control the fat content and texture, and it's easy to boot!

Author: Judy

Recipe type: Meat

Cuisine: Miscellaneous

Serves: 1 or more servings

Ingredients

Any boneless piece of meat

Instructions

Step 1: Slice your piece of meat on 45-degree angle, only cutting 75% of the way through––do not cut all the way to the bottom. Make your slices about ¼-inch thick.

Step 2: Flip the piece of meat over and repeat Step 1, slicing at a 45 degree angle in the opposite direction.

Step 3: Flip the meat back over, and slice at a 90 degree angle this time, again 75% of the way through, with a ¼-inch between each slice.

Step 4: Flip the meat over and repeat Step 3.

Step 5: Now gather the meat into a pile, and using the part of the knife or cleaver closest to the handle, rapidly chop the meat from left to right a couple times.

51 Comments

I just found your blog and app and I can not wait to start trying your recipes. First one on my list is your Pork/Shrimp Shumai. I love the idea of grinding my own meat with a clever. When selecting the boneless pork shoulder, how’s much trimming are you doing of the original roast fat?

Thank you for your time, I’m loving everything I’m reading and watching, keep up the great work

Is there a reason a food processor shouldn’t be used to grind meat? I know to “pulse” it, not continuously grind it so it wouldn’t be mush. Or is this method suggested for those who don’t necessarily have a food processor? Just curious. Thanks!

Chopping cuts the meat with each stroke while grinding tears the meat, resulting in a subtle difference between the two in “mouth feel.” I find chopped meat “silkier”, which is more apparent in relatively bland dishes without a lot of different elements (wontons, xiao long bao, pork hamburger).

This is very interesting. My Chinese neighbors often take a long time to hand-chop meat, even though ground meat is readily available at the grocery store. I asked my neighbor about it, but I couldn’t understand her reply. Now I think I’ll try it!

I think it’s funny you all state ground pork to be a lean meat! Here in Belgium it’s actually one of the fattiest meats you can get your hands on! They use all the leftover pork cuts that nobody wants & grind them for the ground pork, you don’t even need extra oil to fry it sometimes.

I do pork shoulder this way all the time. I slice part and chop part of the roast, then freeze in ziplock bags for my Chinese dishes. Just get a good meat cleaver. I use one our cook used in Taiwan fifty years ago. It’s ugly, old and stained but takes a sharp edge.

One suggestion that works for me: if the pork is a bit frozen or partially defrosted, it is easier to chop and slice. Try it. You will see.

I just love your blog and am definitely going to try this and soon! I’d like to add my voice to the others requesting a video, even though it seems straightforward, a video would also help me show my husband that “I’m not really crazy” for wanting to make ground meat, at home, without a grinder :D

Love your blog, save and cook a lot of your recipes. Having said that, you should remove #2 “Health” from your posting. If you are using pork shoulder to make your ground pork, then you are not interested in “healthy” ground pork. In Canada, one can only buy lean ground pork. Yes, I buy pork shoulder, have a couple in the freezer right now, virtually always used for pulled pork, but trimmed of all visible fat before cooking, and when pulling apart after cooking. Will I live any longer than you, probably not. Cheers!

Hi Frank, points taken! This post is meant to share the technique of hand-chopping/hand-grinding meat, and not so much about the merits of different cuts of pork, beef, chicken or other proteins. Bottomline, everyone gets to make their own health choices.

I love “hand-grinding” my meat. The meat doesn’t bind together like machine ground. It gives a fantistic texture for won ton anf meat hash dishes.
But I got to try your technique! It looks like a reduction in time spended in the mincing process.
Happy cooking. Love your articles.
Don’t drop “HEALTHY” from your headings.
It also imply that natural, quality ingredients are used in food preparation. Fat is not necessary bad in moderation.

Another real life reason:
A couple days ago I was in a local market and the available lady was working on some raw chicken — she came over and I asked for a pound of the lean ground pork in the case. Without taking off and changing the plastic bag improvised gloves she was wearing — she reached into the case and grabbed my order. Not only was my pork probably contaminated just by being ‘ground pork’ – but now some of that exotic chicken salmonella inoculation. Cooked thoroughly and ate ate right away! Still OK!

I have seen Japanese chefs on TV chop meat kind of like this, but they used two cleavers and moved them with lightning speed. I do not have space for a meat grinder in my kitchen and for the same reason have already replaced all my chopping knives, save for a serrated knife, with two cleavers (one light, one heavy), I now seriously consider getting another heavy one for chopping meat your way. :)

For Chinese dishes, using “ground” pork, what would you suggest as a good lean to fat ratio, approximately?

Hi Karin, you really don’t need two cleavers, one will do just fine for regular home cooking, because you can still chop the meat with lightning speed with one cleaver. :-) For Chinese dishes, you can use 100% lean meat in stir-fry dishes, but for fillings for dumplings, wontons or baozi, it’s best to use 20% -25% fat.